A Perfect Morning

Jeanette and Buster on the walk-way

Today all the elements of weather, time of day, bird activity, good planning, and luck, came together to make for a successful morning. The weather was forcast for good in the morning, and it was, and as I write this in the afternoon I notice out my den window that it is raining.  The plan was to check-out the Osprey nest at the Independence Riverview Park.  From checking eBird records I knew that the earliest we have seen an Osprey at this nest site was March 30th in 2015. The earliest anyone has reported was March 2nd by Sally Hill in 2018, and the next earliest for anyone else was March 31 by Donna Bolt in 2019. So, I knew the time was close for the Osprey to make their return to this nest site.  Sure enough as we were walking down the walk-way, Jeanette noticed a large bird in the sky, as it approached we reconized it was an Osprey, and to our great good fortune, she landed on the nest!

Osprey landing on the nest-site

It was a perfect morning in so many ways.  For the first time in over three weeks Buster was back to his normal self, raring to go, anxious to explore.  Not the sick dog that has wanted to just stay home or wait in the car. When we finished here, he still wanted more, so we drove on and checked out a second Osprey nest-site on the Buena Vista Road, and then stopped for another walk at Mt. Fir Park in Independence.

An important addition:  The Osprey nest has a live stream available, click here.  This is a great way to see what is going on at the nest site.